Metro Council needs your help!

Wow, second blog entry in a month! Can you believe it?

Reading the paper this morning, a big headline in the Metro section told readers that the Metropolitan Council, which oversees Metro Tranit, is looking for simpler names for its "burgeoning" transit system in the Twin Cities.

Right now, you just have the Northstar rail and the Hiawatha light rail - but Metro Transit will be adding Bus Rapid Transit lines and new light rail lines (if funding isn't severely cut), and possibly another commuter rail line. Eventually, it'll get pretty confusing, especially to visitors to our Twin Cities.

But, according to the Metropolitan Council, this new name will only apply to rapid bus transit and light rail. Then, they will color code the separate lines - for instance, lets say the Met Council decides to call it the "T" (which still is an iconic logo for Metro Transit). Then, the Met Council might change the Hiawatha light rail to "The Blue Line," the Central Corridor light rail to "The Red Line," and so forth.

So, what would you call the new rapid transit system around here? The Met Council wants to hear from you. Through 5 pm on March 18, you can send suggestions to: data.center@metc.state.mn.us. Peronally, I like the "T," but, apparently, Pittsburgh uses that moniker for its transit. For the full article from today's Pioneer Press, click "Metro Council needs your help!"

Lottery funds = Vikings Stadium?

I wrote more about this on Allvoices.com (click Lottery Funds = for the article), but I discovered today the Vikings are now considering using lottery funds to help finance a new stadium.

It sounds like a good idea on the surface, and it doesn't seem the NFL would have any problem with gambling dollars being used to finance a new stadium, as it's been done in Baltimore. But, wasn't the Minnesota State Lottery money supposed to go for...environmental concerns?

Of course, I doubt the "environmental concerns" have gotten ALL of the proceeds of the state lottery that's been in existence since 1988. But, I do wonder whether the Vikings would have to go through any red tape to re-appropriate some of the lottery money.

The racino idea didn't seem to go over so well; and certainly, the public doesn't want to put up a huge chunk of the money of a stadium that's probably going to cost over $1 billion when all is said and done. And, Governor Dayton has concerns about the lottery dollars being a "reliable" source of revenue.

However, the Vikings' scratch-off game was the highest selling lottery game in the state last year. It might actually be worth looking into.